Mr Blackford said he hoped the Commons could now take the lead on how Brexit pans out.

Asked about an amendment to suspend Article 50 – the legal trigger that activated the withdrawal process – Mr Blackford said he expected movement before 9 December.

“There are still a number of days left for Parliament to put down an amendment to that effect, and I believe that that will be the case.

“We have expressed for a considerable period of time that we wanted Article 50 to be suspended, and we know that can be done for a number of months.”

He said there were MPs across the chamber who would support a suspension.

‘Common sense’

“If you are going to vote against Theresa May’s deal, if you are going to vote to rule out a no deal scenario then it is common sense that you need to make sure that there is time for a new proposal to be put forward in Parliament and perhaps even to the people of Scotland and United Kingdom,” he told the programme.

“That means that we have to postpone article 50.

“The European Union recognises that there is a possibility of that coming, and the European Union – at least in the first case – can agree to that until the end of June.”

He refused to be drawn on reports that the SNP has been in discussions with the Labour Party about supporting a Labour minority government.